"You bastard!"
Before Welt could even process his shock, Sirin—consumed by absolute fury—had already flashed before the golden-haired clown.
Blinded by rage, she didn't summon her usual weapon, the Void Lances. Instead, she tried to tear the man apart with her bare hands. As she struck, intense spatial distortions enveloped her arms, warping the very space in front of her.
But…
"Now, now, no need to rush. It's not good for a child to be so impatient."
As if he'd anticipated her attack, the golden-haired clown raised his hand early, almost like an adult gently stopping a rowdy child, and gave a light push forward.
In that instant, the distorted space smoothed out, and the Honkai energy gathered around Sirin's hands vanished effortlessly, like snow melting under the scorching sun.
"The Honkai energy… it's gone?"
Welt's eyes widened. As the one directly involved, Sirin might not have grasped what happened, but he saw everything clearly.
The moment that mysterious figure lifted his hand, a familiar-looking red substance flowed beneath his sleeve—and just like that, Sirin's Honkai energy dispersed into a wave of air.
"So this girl means a lot to you? Oh my, my apologies~"
Even with the mask on, both of them could clearly hear the amused tone in the clown's voice.
"Sirin, don't be reckless! His abilities are dangerous!"
Facing such an unknown enemy, Welt didn't dare hold back. A wall of energy instantly materialized between Sirin and the clown, hoping to stop her from losing control in her rage and attacking him again.
Without understanding the opponent's power, reckless moves could be…
"Due to certain… plans, I had to make the lovely Lynelle bow out early. But rest assured, my methods were swift and clean—she didn't suffer."
"Of course, if you'd like, Miss Sirin, I can offer you a sincere apology. Or perhaps get down on my knees and weep? How does that sound?"
Unfortunately, the moment the clown opened his mouth, Welt knew his own words had fallen on deaf ears.
"You… you…!"
Sirin's small chest heaved violently, her golden eyes tinged with crimson.
"You! Will! Die!"
"Tsk, I said, don't be rash…"
The golden-haired clown seemed either oblivious to danger, or deliberately trying to provoke Sirin.
"What can I say? You may have lost Lynelle, but you still have me. I could be the one to guide you through life, couldn't I?"
Watching Sirin charge at the clown again, Welt sighed.
"Star of Eden, Zeroth Power: Quasi Black Hole—"
From their brief exchange earlier, he had deduced that to erase Honkai energy, the masked man needed to make physical contact with it.
If that was the case, then all he had to do was strike first and use his own energy to exhaust that strange absorption ability.
That way, the clown would either have to neutralize Sirin's attack and get trapped in the black hole's time-slowing field, or cancel out the Star of Eden and try to evade Sirin's strike by other means. Either way, caught between them, he'd be forced to reveal more of his capabilities.
"Tch, as expected of the Anti-Entropy leader. Quite the handful."
Welt's assumption was correct.
What Otto was using now was a technology still under development by Schicksal—the God-Slayer Spear, forged from the blood of the Kaslana Saint.
At this stage, the God-Slayer Spear existed only as a theoretical model.
Its source came entirely from Cecilia's body, combined with some practical modifications by Otto. Mass production was impossible, and the supply Otto carried with him accounted for nearly seventy percent of his total stock.
But just as Welt had guessed, the Honkai energy-neutralizing ability of the God-Slayer Spear had its limits. And Welt's simulated black hole was precisely the kind of threat he couldn't afford to ignore.
"Seems I'll have to end this quickly…"
A flash of resolve passed through Otto's eyes.
He didn't try to erase Sirin's attack, nor did he counter Welt's simulated black hole. Instead, he condensed his stored God-Slayer Spear into a crimson spiral and hurled it straight at Sirin.
"Shiiing—"
A sharp, metallic cutting sound rang through the air as the clown's head went flying. Sirin's furious strike left Otto no room to resist—especially since he'd dropped his defenses.
The Void Lance gave him a rather direct cosplay of Louis XVI.
But the cost of that strike…
"Khh…!"
Sirin clutched her blood-drenched abdomen, her lips twitching uncontrollably from the pain.
"A life for a wound?"
By now, not only Welt, but even Sirin was snapping out of her rage. After all, judging by the mysterious man's earlier display of power, he should have had at least five better ways to handle the situation. There was no reason for it to end with him losing his life.
"No, 'a life for a wound' is correct—but you've mistaken who's whose."
The clown's head, which had rolled a couple times on the ground without the mask coming off, suddenly spun around, facing Welt and Sirin squarely.
"Because… the one at death's door, I'm afraid, isn't me."
"Sirin?"
Welt whipped his head around. Sirin, who had been floating in the air moments before, was now kneeling weakly on the ground, clutching the wound Otto had pierced through her, her consciousness fading.
Purple Honkai energy gathered around the injury, trying to heal it, but the effort was as futile as moths darting into a flame.
Welt's eyes narrowed. He instantly projected the restorative serum used in Anti-Entropy medical pods. But just like Sirin's own Honkai energy, the moment the serum touched her wound, it rapidly broke down into raw Honkai energy and scattered.
"You've got to be kidding me…"
Only now did Welt realize just how terrifying the substance in that masked man's possession was.
After becoming a Herrscher, both he and Sirin had, in a sense, transcended humanity.
Their physical resilience and recovery speed were elevated to unbelievable levels by their Herrscher Cores. A wound like this, even severed limbs, could be restored to fighting condition quickly with proper treatment.
But much of the Honkai energy Sirin had absorbed earlier in Babylon Tower was used to summon Bella, and she'd fought two consecutive battles after that.
Now, not only could she not heal her injury—even the remaining Honkai energy inside her was being devoured by that eerie red substance.
It reminded him of something that existed only in theory, the very thing that had brought Siegfried and Cecilia together, the thing Welt himself had once pursued—the Herrscher killer, the God-Slayer Spear.
"Just who are you?"
"Heh…"
The head that Sirin had severed earlier rose on its own and reattached seamlessly to Otto's body, which had never fallen. In moments, the repair was complete.
"I am merely an insignificant clown, that's all."
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.